Strategic branding and marketing innovations agency Troika has hired Nuri Djavit as its new general manager. Djavit joins Troika with 17 years of experience in global digital marketing and advertising. He is charged with overseeing day-to-day operations and leading agency growth, development and innovation from within.
Most recently, Djavit served as the chief marketing officer at Emotiv, a San Francisco-based tech company, where he successfully carried out marketing efforts and key commercial activities with brands such as Disney, ABC, Lucas Arts, Sony and organizations such as the World Economic Forum. At Last Exit, he transformed the design and tech innovation boutique into a multidisciplinary, full-service agency as chief operating officer. Prior to that, he was the managing director and partner at Brick & Bond, a New York-based digital strategy, marketing and product consultancy. Throughout his career, Djavit has worked with Apple, Belvedere Vodka, Cablevision and Estee Lauder, among many others.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More